Electronic bracelets at center of vacation management system at Disney Parks

Honestly, out of all the possible uses of this, I think a character knowing your kid's name as they arrive is by far the coolest.

If you're TRULY concerned about your privacy, your name badge probably says "Rip Van Winkle", because you've slept through the past 20 years. Everything about you that anyone wants to know, is already known...

Remember the tale of the father with the teenage pregnant daughter who got upset when coupons came in their mail for diapers and other baby supplies. He later apologized when his daughter informed him that she was in fact pregnant. Their data analysis of her purchases was spot-on...

You can use cash if you don't want credit cards and preferred customer cards to track you...but your cash has magnetic strips.

George Orwell was at least partially correct - between government and MNCs, there is no such thing as privacy, or a right to it.

Another "fun" use might be to track your high scores on attractions like Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story mania....or keep your personal ride count on attractions. Those very personalized activities are the things I think that will draw people to this technology and have them embrace it much the same way Facebook drew people away from MySpace.

Maybe at your hotel room your maid will be able to know whether you like your sheets tucked tight or just made with hospital corners. Or they can set up the tv with your favorite channels prior to your arrival. Maybe you always order a couple sets of extra towels and on your next trip they will already be in the room waiting for you.

All of these might seem trivial but they would all be viewed as "exceeding guest expectations" which is what Disney has strived to do since the beginning.

^"No tuck, Lupe. One tuck, one no-tuck." - George Costanza...

No doubt there are a lot of people who are selective or even hypocritical in terms of their views of privacy. That is true of other every day issues as well.

But there still are a lot of people who leave a minimal footprint on the web. They are not on social media (or if they are, they do not share much info about their lives on it). They do not spend time in online forums talking about their lives. They do not shop online. They pay for things with cash. There are various reasons for that (some of which are based on privacy issues but many are not).

I agree those people are not likely to want to use the Nexgen system. However, they may feel like they have no choice. To the extent that much of the Disney experience becomes tied to it, using the new system pretty much becomes mandatory. In the end, I think these people lose as there is too much upside from the business perspective and the momentive is clearly in that direction. In addition, the issue is largely generational. Younger people have grown up in an online world where much of their lives is already shared. So its less of an issue going forward.

The effect of the personalized character interactions also can apply to interactive line situations (rather than having a generic spiel which is ignored, the interaction can be personalized to what attractions you just saw and what reservations you have coming up) and on the transporation systems. A lot of potential.

rollergator said:

You can use cash if you don't want credit cards and preferred customer cards to track you...but your cash has magnetic strips.

What magnetic strips on cash let anyone track what you purchase?

I do not understand all the generalizations about people who are concerned with privacy. You can have an online persona and still be concerned with privacy. Look at all the news surrounding any privacy changes Facebook makes. Facebook privacy is a hot topic.

Am I assuming to much by thinking Disney will recoup the expense of MyMagic+/ Fastpass+ by selling upgraded vacation packages? As it has been said, Disney will begin offering 3 Fastpass+ tickets to people participating in the program. It seems likely to me that once the trials and kinks are worked out of MyMagic's startup, we will start to see more Fastpass+ passes being offered to folks who stay at the premium hotels. Staying with the resort longer? Here's an extra 2 passes per day (or whatever). Like Gonch pointed out, the beauty in that method of classism is that nobody will know who's getting what.

GoBucks89 said:

What magnetic strips on cash let anyone track what you purchase?

Not what you spend it on....but how much cash you're carrying is not necessarily "private".

http://www.snopes.com/business/money/strip.asp

I know that they serve as an anti-counterfeiting measure....and I'm not a crazed conspiracy theorist (much)...but I did include the word "necessarily" because I wouldn't be shocked if those strips could serve another purpose.

LostKause said:

I do not understand all the generalizations about people who are concerned with privacy. You can have an online persona and still be concerned with privacy. Look at all the news surrounding any privacy changes Facebook makes. Facebook privacy is a hot topic.

We often need to have discussions in terms of generalizations. Though there are almost always exceptions that apply to the generalizations. Seems to me that it is true that the more someone lives online (in terms of buying things, participating in online discussion forums, sharing info about their lives via social media, etc.) the less likely they are to be concerned about the new Disney system and raise privacy issues with respect to it. Though I am sure there are exceptions to that on both sides.

Facebook and privacy have always been interesting to me. Seems to me that the business model of Facebook has always been toward more sharing of more info (at least it was when I last used it a couple of years ago). Thats pretty much the opposite of privacy.

But even if they can track how much money is in your wallet or pocket (I am not convinced of that), that is a whole lot different than being able to track how you are spending that cash (like they can do with credit cards, store loyalty cards, etc.).

I wouldn't be surprised too, Gator. Although I am a conspiracy theorist, I do like to see the evidence before I blindly accept the nuttyness. A lot of really out there stuff is added on purpose to true conspiracy theories for the explicit reason to discredit them. There may be something else to the magnetic strip inside dollar bills besides counterfeiting deterrence. It is possible that reading dollar bills by satellite is misinformation added to make the story seem ridiculous, and thereby discrediting it, for example.

Just like it is possible that Disney is one of many corporations who are in league with the devil, and RFIDs will be "The Mark of the Beast" as read in the Holy Bible, once they are implanted under the skin of everyone on the planet.

I'm not saying it's true. I'm just saying that it's possible.

RFID technology is very interesting to me, because it has the potential to be used for extreme good or extreme evil, devil or not.

I was more thinking of the $10K cash limit before many financial transactions have to be reported. Typically, we'd be talking about money laundering/drug transactions...

...and then we have the HSBC scandal...SMH.

Behavioral detection is probably more effective at catching folks with tens of thousands of dollars in their undies.

There was an article about Chinese folks smuggling money into Canada and the US earlier this month:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323635504578213933647167020.html

Possibly paywalled. If so, here's an interesting bit:

"From 2009 to 2011, U.S. airport customs officers seized over $5 million in undeclared cash from Chinese citizens, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That is 8.4% of the total seized and more than double the nearest amount for another nationality."